INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE: Applicant(s) hereby incorporate herein by reference, any and all U.S. patents, U.S. patent applications, and other documents and printed matter cited or referred to in this application.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to clocks and electronic light shows and more particularly to an operating clock face mounted on one face of a simulated pair of dice which are positioned as if in the midst of rolling on a craps table and wherein the dice are electronically enabled for producing an electronic light show.
2. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Bachman, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 80,934 describes a lamp design
Schisgall, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 83,573 describes a dial for a timepiece design.
Weiss, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 92,278 describes a lamp design.
Stein et al., U.S. Pat. No. Des. 102,150 describes a watchbase design.
Krueger, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 109,517 describes a combination lamp and game device design.
Hurley, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 202,630 describes game display panel design.
Hurley, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 204,894 describes a clock design.
Stevens, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 282,913 describes a wrist watch design.
Michelotti, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 341, 543 describes a wrist watch design.
Widdup, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 370,285 describes a lamp with clock radio design.
Hurley, U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,703 describes a combination clock and amusement apparatus comprising display means disposed for view by the players and presenting a pair of generally square outlines to represent the faces of two dice; a plurality of separately energizable electroluminescent members forming a part of said display means and being positioned so that selected areas within each of said outlines can be illuminated to represent the dots in their positions as they normally appear on the various faces of a die; player operated means actuatable by said players; first control means responsive to an actuation of said player operated means to energize selected ones of said electroluminescent members and thereby illuminate a randomly selected number of said areas within each of said outlines; timer means; and second control means connected to said timer means and said electroluminescent members, said second control means being operative, when the system is not being controlled by means of said player operated means, to energize selected ones of said electroluminescent members so that the total number of said areas which are illuminated is equal to the hour of the day.
Fatton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,779 describes an electronic timepiece with a device for indicating the time, which is electronically controlled and is used to display elements which simulate a game of chance. Additional circuits are provided for the control of the display of the elements of the game and at least part of the circuits of the timepiece, normally intended for the measure of the time are used in order to perform the choice at random of the elements.
The prior art teaches simulated dice mounted one on top of the other as a lamp base; dice pairs showing time quantitatively; a dice cube illuminated as a lamp; a dice cage mounted on a dice base; and various dice designs for games and other devices. The present invention teaches that a pair of cubes representing dice may be joined in such manner as to indicate dice in motion when thrown, and may present a working clock face to indicate that time is a critical variable in a gambling process. Further such a pair of cubes may have internal illumination as a light show to illustrate that the dots of the dice are moving and eventually come to a halt to show winners and losers. Such an apparatus may, itself, be programmed to randomly illuminate the dots coming to a halt at a pair of randomly illuminated dice faces thereby indicating winners or losers. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
A clock apparatus comprises a clock case made of either an opaque material or a translucent material, the clock case enclosing an electronic circuit comprising electronic circuit elements including: a clock timer, a source of electrical current, a simple on-off power switch, a switching device adapted for programmed switching, and a means for illumination. The clock case comprises a pair of cubes, with an upper one of the cubes mounted at one corner on a face of a lower one of the cubes. The cubes provide apertures having a distribution on the clock case in correspondence with the dots of a pair of dice. Windows made of either an opaque or a translucent material, cover the apertures so that light from the illumination means of the electrical circuit is visible through either the clock case or the windows as a light show in accordance with the switching device. A clock face is engaged with the clock timer and is mounted on one of the faces of the upper one of the cubes so as to be visible to a viewer of the light show.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of use of such apparatus that provides advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide such an invention capable of appearing to be a pair of tumbling dice.
A further objective is to provide such an invention capable of keeping and telling accurate time.
A still further objective is to provide such an invention capable of providing a light show.
A yet still further objective is to provide such an invention capable of providing a light show to which one may gamble.